Having gone to an elementary school where my grade consisted of 40 kids, I got to know my class really well across the duration of my six years of attendance. That also meant that I've had the same group of friends for the last 15 years of my life, and for that I couldn't be more grateful. A lot of our friendship centered around sports and being active ever since we were little, and has continued even into college. I love each and everyone of us, and our differences balance each other out. I can't imagine where I would be today if it weren't for them, they were there with me through every major point in our lives.

1. The Pee-Wee Sports Heroes

There's always those few kids on the little league team that thought they were the best, and that was most definitely us. The boys were always talking about their big plays in their football games, and us girls thinking about how awesome the game winning goal was. We were each others cheerleaders and supporters from the get-go, no matter the innocence and simplicity of the level at which we were playing.

2. 5th Grade Graduation

It might not seem like much in the moment, but looking back now, it was our first accomplishment together, the first thing we all did together. We were officially moving on to a new school with new classmates, but we still had each other. Unadilla Elementary had served us well, and we were pretty confident that we had served Unadilla well too. We were just little kids, and didn't even know how much closer we would grow to become.

3. Middle School

At this point in our friendship, we've gotten to know some new classmates, but have still stuck together, bringing in a couple of new friends. What I can never quite understand is how we were ever friends with each other, though, because our middle school stages were all rough, really rough, but yet we all stayed together regardless of how embarrassing our tween-aged selves appear looking back now. I definitely wouldn't have made it through the chaos of middle school without them.

4. JV Sports

When we were finally eligible for JV sports, I think our friendship grew even stronger, we became proud to be friends with each other. We went to each other's games, and wanted to be there to support one another. The realm of JV sports seems like the coolest thing in the world when you're able to play on a team, and because we all got to do it together, playing alongside each other, we only grew closer.

5. High School and Varsity Sports

When we moved on to the 9th grade, I think the dynamic of our friendship changed a little. We were starting to participate in varsity sports, but because we were the youngest kids on the team, we were trying to impress the older kids on on our teams, wanting to become their friends and be brought under their wing. Our friendship got a little thin in this sense, we were growing apart because we were so focused on being like-able. At the same time though, this concept of us being cheerleaders for each kept us together, as our teams did well, we were there for each other, in the bleachers cheering each other on to celebrate the wins and hug out the losses.

Our peak came the summer before senior year. We spent a lot of nights together around a campfire and lots of personal stories. We spent almost every weekend together, and then it was time for school again. We got to experience all of the incredible memories of senior year together, and all of the "last firsts." The girls had our last season in the dynasty of Sue Herodes' soccer program, and the boys in their last snow-covered football game. We had our Friendsgiving and later our secret Santa Christmas.

Our senior trip to Boston was a weekend full of memories, and wouldn't have wanted to be there with anyone else. As if we didn't know we liked hanging out with each other enough, we got to tackle a new city together and it probably won't ever be the same after we came through. And of course there's prom and all of the love filled friend pictures. Then came graduation and all of the emotions encompassed.

I'm incredibly thankful to have been able to graduate alongside so many of my best friends, and even more grateful that a diploma didn't erase our friendship. I don't know what I would do without reading all of our silly group chat conversations while we're all away at college, and I'm so glad that I get to come home to you dorks on break.

I'm so proud of each of you for the people you've become, and I can't imagine my life without each of you in it. Thanks for putting up with me for so long, you're an A1 crew.

Love always,

T